Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Jewellery group Bevilles latest to hit the rocks

Bevilles by the numbers.Source: HeraldSun

SPIRALLING costs in a tough retail climate have claimed another
scalp as the 80-year-old jewellery group, Bevilles, falls into voluntary
administration.

The family-owned group which is based in Melbourne warned there
would be store closures, with up to 250 of its 477 employees expected to
be made redundant. It has 17 of its 27 stores in Victoria, with the
rest in Sydney and Adelaide.Chief executive Michelle Beville,
whose grandparents founded Bevilles in 1934, said the group had been
working to trim store sizes in a move that would cut rent costs and
staffing requirements.But complications around leases and the
resizing program meant the company had been unable to roll out the
smaller format quickly.

Macca’s view

“Bevilles is a fabulous brand, but the cost structure wasn’t sustainable,” Ms Beville told BusinessDaily.“We have been trying very hard to restructure the business from a cost perspective, but leases are a big part of the costs.”Ms
Beville said the Beville family had proposed a restructure plan to the
administrators, PPB Advisory, which would see the family buy back a
number of the stores. The stores would then be converted as quickly as
possible to the smaller-format model, which does not stock giftware
lines.Ms Beville said two smaller stores launched in Highpoint shopping centre and in Sydney last year had been well received.The group’s creditors are mainly suppliers both in Australia and overseas.Administrators are expected to make a decision by the start of May.